Johannes “Jepser8” Straver has turned an already absurd WCOOP into something even harder to explain, winning the $10,300 Thursday Thrill for $167,733 and collecting his fourth title of the 2026 series.
The Dutch high-stakes regular had already won three WCOOP events this month, including back-to-back $5,200 Super Tuesday titles. His latest victory came against a 48-entry field in one of the toughest PKO tournaments on the schedule, with $480,000 in the prize pool and a six-figure bounty component still in play when the tournament reached heads-up.
It also means Straver has caught Renan “Internett93o” Bruschi at four titles for this WCOOP. With the Main Events still to come, two of the series’ hottest players have managed to turn the closing week into a race of their own.
Straver Turns a Hot WCOOP Into a Four-Title Run
Straver’s September was already memorable before the Thursday Thrill began. Poker Type covered his back-to-back WCOOP Super Tuesday wins, a pair of $5,200 victories that would have been enough to define a very good series for most players.
He then added a third 2026 title before stepping into the $10,300 NLHE PKO Thursday Thrill. The buy-in and format produced the sort of compact field where there are very few soft spots to hide behind, and only six players received a share of the regular prize pool.
Straver reached heads-up against Kazakhstan’s “VbV1990” with both players guaranteed $65,858 from the conventional payout. That was only part of the equation, though. In a progressive knockout this deep, the bounties had become enormous, so the final confrontation was effectively playing for another six-figure swing.
Straver finished the job and collected $101,875 in bounties on top of his $65,858 prize, taking his total return to $167,733. The runner-up received $83,983 overall, including $18,125 in bounties.
A Final Table With Very Little Breathing Room
The final table reflected the standard of the event. Nacho12444 finished third for $53,014, Hungary’s “kZhh” took fourth for $46,967 and Denmark’s “starswins :)” earned $39,472 in fifth. Jorge “jorginho88” Abreu bubbled the regular payouts in seventh but still collected $7,500 in bounties.
Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi was also among the final nine. In a 48-entry high roller, that is the problem with surviving one difficult table: there is usually another one waiting immediately afterwards.
The victory adds another chapter to a run that has developed quickly. Straver’s second Super Tuesday win alone paid $90,420, following a $106,622 victory the previous week. He has now added the Thursday Thrill and another WCOOP title to a stretch in which repeatedly reaching the sharp end of $5,000 and $10,000 online tournaments has started to look suspiciously routine.
Bruschi and Straver Reach Four Wins Each
The timing makes the fourth title especially interesting because Straver is no longer chasing the series lead. He is sharing it with Bruschi, whose own four-title WCOOP has pushed the Brazilian to 13 career victories and into the upper reaches of the all-time standings.
Poker Type previously followed Bruschi’s climb after his 11th WCOOP title and second win of this series. Two more victories have followed since then, turning what looked like a personal leaderboard charge into one of the main stories of WCOOP 2026.
The wider career leaderboard remains a different battle. Benny Glaser leads with 17 titles after his latest mixed-game success, and Poker Type’s Benny Glaser profile charts a WCOOP record built across far more than one hot September. Straver is not yet in that territory, but four titles in a single edition is the sort of pace that gets noticed very quickly.
The Biggest WCOOP Tournaments Are Still Ahead
There is also an awkward detail for everyone hoping Straver cools off: WCOOP is not finished. The NLHE Main Events begin on September 27, with buy-ins of $109, $1,050 and $10,300 and guarantees of $1.25 million, $2 million and $2.5 million respectively.
The PLO Main Events follow on September 28, while the closing schedule also contains a $25,000 NLHE Super High Roller. That leaves plenty of expensive poker for the same high-stakes regulars who have spent the last few weeks running into Straver at final tables.
Four titles in one WCOOP is already a rare month. A fifth would move this run from remarkable into the territory where future WCOOP recaps will have to devote an uncomfortable amount of space to one username.
